Autism; Screaming for Hope

I am currently working with a teenage boy who is autistic, nonverbal, and not potty-trained. I've been his respite worker for the past 7 years, but never had a consistent or frequent schedule. My desire has been to teach him to talk, because he has spoken, though quite infrequently - but that requires consistency. This summer, I have the opportunity to try because I'm working with him for 30hrs/week. I have no training, so I'm reading, and feeling quite unqualified, but I am the best he has. That is not a self-compliment; it's an assessment of the level of desperation that his situation should evoke in anyone who is concerned for others.

I've been speaking to his parents about what they want for him, and what he receives. He doesn't receive much.

HE GOES TO SCHOOL.
Not quite sure what they do... except that only 3hrs per week is said to be dedicated to speech- that isn't enough for a nonverbal autistic child, and whether it's happening- he can't tell his parents. BUT we do know that the school keeps asking to reduce his hours because they've given up..... because of THREE hours! THREE stinking hours that can't possibly do the job.
During the remainder of his time there, well according to a witness, one day he was strapped in a chair in front of the TV for several hours so that the teachers could focus on other students. We're not sure about the rest.

HE RECEIVES BEHAVIOR THERAPY.
Someone comes to his house for 4 hours per week, to teach him things such as putting on shoes, washing hands, staying out of the street, etc.

HE RECEIVES RESPITE CARE(that's me).
My job is to keep him safe while his parents get a break. The rest of what I do (taking him hiking, bowling, swimming, and trying to teach him to talk, etc)- that's just perks- none of this is officially recognized as services he's receiving, and if I leave, it goes too.


All I know is, this boy is overwhelmed when he tries to communicate, and can't. He resorts to biting and hitting, but you see the frustration in his eyes. He wants out. Yet he's trapped, and the more time goes by, the more trapped he becomes.

It frustrates me to no end. He deserves so much more. He's a person, and he's trapped, unable to communicate even in alternative ways (yes, I want to give speech a shot, but if that doesn't work, then there are other options to try too)- not because he can't learn, but because the services he has received are not enough.

So I'm trying to figure out how to advocate and create a successful and viable alternative educational program. By viable, I mean largely, fund-able. His parents aren't rich though they both work, so the question is, how much would it cost, and then, what would the school system fund, and what would regional center fund, and could we raise the rest?

I need to help him- someone needs to help him. Anyone can help him; I don't care. For now, it's me. Maybe come fall, we could have actual trained staff in place- but the question is, "How?" How do we design it? How do we push/fight for it? How do we finance it? I'm coming up with ideas; I'm not as clueless as I was 3 weeks ago, but I would sincerely love and welcome any advise or assistance with any area of this effort.

Separating the Bible from God's Commands

I am officially going crazy! I was in Bible Study tonight, and afterwards, someone decided to read off something they saw online. Some sort of "divorce agreement" regarding divorcing the politically left. In it, the person wrote something to the effect of, "you can keep the homeless, and the hippies and illegal aliens..." "we'll keep walmart.." "we'll keep the Bibles, you can have NBC..."

I forgot to be open-minded like I normally am (or try to be), and left the room. I couldn't take it! What?!!!! you want to pawn homeless people off on us, and think you are keeping the Bible? Jesus admonished those who looked down on the poor. What happened to the Beattitudes? What happened to the Widow's mite? What happened to the Good Samaritan? What happened to God's command to be kind to the aliens among you, for you were once aliens in Egypt? What happened to everything that Christ preaches?!!!! You have already pushed away the Bible!

But DO NOT! imply that it is an unChristian thing to value helping others above personal wealth!

OTHER THOUGHTS ("B-ROLL"):
1) So I guess we're also keeping the developmentally disabled, and kids who are traumatized by abuse. But what happens when a wealthy republican beats his children? Or how do you handle a 25 year old who grew up in your society, but starts to show signs of schizophrenia? Do you send them over to us now because you don't have the social structure to handle it? In mass, we have the ability to make a difference, but when you say, (paraphrase) "you keep the problems," that makes the ratios of problems (issues, not people) go up, and no one is helped. If there is no public assistance, you ignore the problem, and the result is: you'll have more people wandering around, peeing on your sidewalks because you don't provide any assistance. I don't believe that handouts are anything more than a bandaid on a broken leg, but I do believe in a hand up.

2) I don't know about taking too high a percentage of taxes from anyone without their consent. Personally, I consent to taxes if it will help our fellow human beings... and as long as my own needs are met... and as long as you aren't giving them more (with my money) than I can afford for myself. Because I consent, I naturally expect others to as well.

3) Yes, you can keep Walmart, which has a goal of 30% of marketshare worldwide, and only stops at that to prevent problems with monopoly laws (but your society will abolish that law, and then it will change it's goals to a higher percentage). Walmart, the company that avoids full-time positions and medical coverage. And Walmart, the company that fires people who try to start unions, which whether you like unions or not, is illegal [and the Bible does say to obey the laws of your land (except when it goes against God, like in Daniel)].... But may I ask, which of your people will chose to work there?

4) Yes I know that not all politically "right" people are indifferent to helping others, but this writer apparently is, if he/she can make these comments.

5) Now that I found your blog online: So you're an American law student. And I'm an American MBA student. We both apparently value education, but you think yours is enough to back your value-system over ours. From my perspective, half of what you want to keep... you're right; we are so different that there won't be much of a legal battle. I cannot imagine wanting it. But do you really suppose that we don't want police? What school teaches that?

6) But all-in-all, if you didn't bring God into it, I would have chalked it up to politics, and left it alone. You, however, imply that we would not want the Bible! How dare you make such an asinine assumption about an entire political spectrum of people!

7) Okay, I still don't feel better. I need to climb to the top of Razor's Edge (my favorite hiking spot), and scream!

Homosexuality

How come people treat people who are homosexual as worse than anyone else? Why are we so afraid of it? The Bible says that a man should not lie with another man, as with a woman. And it adds, "For the Lord detests these things." But I ernestly believe that the latter statement was referring to the entire section, which was about a variety of sexual behaviors. We all know people, are friends with people, and may even be people who have sinned sexually, one way or another, and yet we treat homosexuality as the worst crime. Most people lust- usually after the opposite sex, and the Bible says that this itself is a sin. But we treat this as normal humaness, while we treat homosexuals, who lust after the same sex, as evil. And gross, disgusting, etc.

We are hypocrites. I don't see a difference. Sexual sin is sexual sin. We all sin; even if we don't lust, we sin some other way. But it's easy to attack the sin that's far from ourselves.

We do a diservice when we separate them from us so completely. Who's going to listen to us preach, "You are evil!?" Their response is that we are hateful, afraid, judgemental. There's no room left to listen because we force them into the defensive.

The truth is, the Bible says that it is wrong to live a homosexual lifestyle. If you believe the Bible, it's fair to agree that the action is wrong. But in the same breath, you must agree that it is wrong to sleep with someone's spouse. It is wrong to sleep around. It is wrong to sleep with people you aren't married to in general. And it is even wrong to fantacize about it.

That said, how many of us can accuse without being accused?

But many of us treat homosexuals with hate and disgust - even those who choose not to live a homosexual lifestyle. We use "gay" as a derogatory phrase, attacking our own friends who are afraid to say that they feel this way themselves- especially now that they see how we feel about it.

And we treat people who are gay as "gays." That becomes their identity. But my identity is not my sexuality, so why should they be defined by their sexuality. I doubt that gay people think more about sex than the average heterosexual. What about the rest of who they are?

My friend, Brian... supposedly, he's gay. I've never asked him. But everyone else "knows" it. I've never talked about sexual issues with him, however, so I wouldn't know. And that is because gay or not, he also has hobbies, political ideas, etc, that are more relevant to our friendship.

Those of us who believe the Bible need to stop attacking these people. This does not mean that you should ignore behavior that you believe is wrong. If you know someone is doing something wrong, and you care about them, you should find a way to confront it. But if you care about them, you can find a caring way to confront it. And ultimately, if the individual does not accept your source of reasoning (ie: the Bible says so), then using the source holds no value. First, you must prove the source, before you use it in reference. And anyone that you would chose to confront in their actions must be welcome to confront you in your faults, because we all certainly have them.

Darfur Genocide

This one will be updated, because there is so much information. A genocide is currently claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur, Sudan. I started hearing about this genocide about a year ago, after watching Hotel Rwanda with the church youth group that I volunteer with, and deciding to look up the term, "genocide" online. At first, I didn't believe the information I was finding because I hadn't heard anything about it in the news. I decided to research the information myself, thinking maybe the term, "genocide" was a rhetorical phrase used by one special interest group to get people's attention. After spending the day online, however, looking up news articles, special interest sites, and even official governmental sites, etc, I was convinced that it really is a genocide; a whole culture of people really are being killed, though not currently in the way Hitler did it- Darfur is instead using forced poverty and forced homelessness to lead the group down the trail towards death. Then again, Hitler didn't start off killing everyone directly either.
Our government (the U.S.) is involved, trying to end the genocide, but we are not doing much, certainly not enough. The UN is involved; they have agreed that it needs to stop. There have been peacemaking efforts, and some states are creating economic sanctions to force it to stop, but a whole culture of people are being forced into a death-trap lifestyle. I will give examples, but I want to give sources with those examples, and don't have them right now. I know that many people do not believe in involving themselves in the affairs of another country. But if my country forced me out of my home, into refugee camps full of desparate people, where I could not work to obtain food, but had to rely on sharing the minimal in rations, or quite possibly starve, and where I would be fighting a huge risk of being beaten, raped, etc, I would hope that someone somewhere would see me as an individual, and get me out of my situation. A country is like a parent; if it is not willing to provide for the basic needs of its' people, then someone needs to step in. If you want to look it up, for now, here's one path: type "Save Darfur" into your search engine (and press enter). ...update: I now have a site specifically dedicated to understanding the Darfur Genocide: http://understandingdarfurgenocide.blogspot.com

Thoughts on the Apartheid

A woman came here from South Africa to work for a summer. I was her supervisor. Within 3 weeks, she was one of my best friends. She is the one who got me interested in politics.
She told me about Apartheid, and how her family worked against it, but I didn't understand all that it was until a couple weeks ago, when I read a book titled, Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane.
The Apartheid, in my opinion, bordered on genocide. The goal of the white minority at the time, was to force black people into the bottom rung of their hierarchy. They took control of the education system, teaching them how to submit through severe punishment, more than they taught anything else. They created Pass laws, that required every black person to carry a document that described employment status, where they could live, etc. No one could leave the reservations they were assigned to, except if they worked outside of these areas. They were paid so little, that most lived in absolute squalor. High numbers of young boys - 5, 6, and 7 year olds, prostituted themselves for food. The health clinic turned away children with TB, fainting spells, malnutrition, etc, multiple days in a row because the line was too long. A person was required to have his or her pass in order (which cost money to update) in order to get a job legally, but had to have a job in order to obtain a pass, and could be arrested for being unemployed. Raids by the government occurred night or day to ensure that everyone over 16 had their passes in order. Often, families were broken up because men had to move to obtain jobs, but their wives and children were not given permission to join them.
So many people died of starvation. The raids were severe; young children were beaten by police when they didn't tell where their parents were. It was not a crime to kill a black person, so the police could and did do so easily. It seems to me that it was as if the government wanted them dead- at least the ones who were not absolutely subordinate, but tried to organize it in a way in which they could blame the deaths on the victims. It wasn't the same as the Holocaust, in which the army came door to door taking every Jew to enslave or kill. Instead, they were more subtle.